Life is a Pre-Existing Condition

Afford me a moment to ramble about health insurance and pre-existing conditions.

My mother died from terminal lung cancer almost eight years ago. She fought her disease with a fierceness and dignity that I find almost unimaginable. The greatest insult during her entire ordeal was with her health insurance.

After more than two years of purchasing a health care policy on the individual market in pre-Obamacare days she was denied coverage when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. The functionary on the phone told my father that her cancer was a pre-existing condition. It was as if they were telling him that she waited to get diagnosed with cancer after more than two years of paying premiums. As if she waited to deal with her cancer because…reasons?

My mother probably started her path toward lung cancer taking her first drag of a cigarette as a sixteen year old in East Moline Illinois in the 1960s. Based on health insurance company logic she had a pre-existing condition going back almost forty years.

In truth, we all have a pre-existing condition. We are alive and we will die. This might be a little bit of hyperbole, but after dealing with health insurance companies I do not feel that anything is beyond the pale. When you are at your lowest these people will step on your throat. When you have lost family members these people will drop a letter detailing their refusal to honor the policy you dutifully paid upon for two years. These are the people that Republicans in the House of Representatives have sided with instead of actual human beings.

Any cancer within some period of time (e.g., 10 years, often other than basal skin cancer)

Obesity, severe

Cerebral palsy

Organ transplant

Congestive heart failure

Paraplegia

Coronary artery/heart disease, bypass surgery

Paralysis

Crohn’s disease/ ulcerative colitis

Parkinson’s disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/emphysema

Pending surgery or hospitalization

Diabetes mellitus

Pneumocystic pneumonia

Epilepsy

Hemophilia

Sleep apnea

Hepatitis (hep C)

Stroke

Kidney disease, renal failure

Transsexualism

That’s right, if you survived an abusive domestic situation you have a pre-existing condition for which a health insurance company could deny you coverage. Born with cerebal palsy? Hell, that is almost the definition of pre-existing condition in the eyes of a health insurance company. Paul Ryan came for your health care and he succeeded.

So, basically Republicans want to punish us for having the gall to live and to expect more than a Hobbesian existence. The ethos in Republican circles is “Fuck you if you are not rich and powerful.”